Reflections From Sunday Evening

Last week Cindy and I spent time in Colorado. I was taking part in a church meeting until Friday noon and then we met our daughter and her husband along with his parents in Georgetown, Colorado. It was a great place to spend a couple of days. It is a fascinating old mining town about an hour west of Denver. I could go into all there is to do but many of you know much more about that than I. But I did realize a couple of things while we were there. I am not sure if it was the altitude or if I was just worn out but by Saturday evening about all I could do was sleep. On Sunday while others headed off to another mountain I hung out around Georgetown. The first thing I realized was churches need to do a great job of letting people know what time they meet. I had seen a Catholic church, an Episcopal church and a Presbyterian church the day before. I was thinking about walking into town and being a Presbyterian but when I finally located their website there were no service times listed. They missed me and I missed them so I walked along a creek and enjoyed my time with God that way. The second thought occurred to me. The plans for that day were pretty specific. They planned to leave by such and such a time; drive to Keystone; take the ski lift up the mountain; hike; eat; ride back down and return to G-Town. It dawned on me that on weekends, especially Sunday's, my schedule is pre-planned. But then it hit me that many people plan their Sunday's and take into consideration many options. There are plans for sports activities, plans for family dinners, trips or other events. There are plans to go places. There are plans to meet people. Sometimes there are plans to go to church. That would be pretty specific. Get up; eat breakfast; take the kids to Sunday School and go to church. So here are my take away's on this. Understand that people come to church very intentionally. When people come give them our best. We plan to provide the most meaningful, relevant and compelling experience possible. Second let's do what we can to help people make going to church their default plan. I believe we were wired for worship. We do all we can to help people live into their growing relationship with the Lord. I loved being in worship this weekend. It was absolutely great to be with you today. It's been a good day. I hope you've had a good day too. steve